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0:57

I'm not entirely clear how Taylor wants us to take

0:59

it. Do you think Taylor wants us to take it

1:01

as all 31 tracks are the

1:03

album or the other way? I just said. Because

1:06

she released it the same night, I think

1:09

yes. But also, like it is very like

1:11

very clearly we're obviously not announced with the

1:13

rest of the track list and not like

1:15

part of four of the songs were already

1:17

announced as like bonus tracks on different physical

1:19

releases. Yeah, it's like hard for me to

1:22

pinpoint whether to think of it as a

1:24

deluxe or as like a full album. Not

1:26

to mention the physical release is just the first

1:28

part. That should mean something I would imagine there

1:30

must be some meaning to that. And there also

1:32

must be some meaning to the fact that some

1:35

of it was the announced album and some of

1:37

it wasn't. I feel like there has to be

1:39

some meaning to that. But I don't know, Robert,

1:41

where are you landing on this vexed issue? I

1:43

think it's because they sound so different. Just

1:46

sonically, like one is very much an Antonoff

1:48

album. Yes. And one is very much an

1:50

Aaron Dessner album. And it's funny that on

1:52

the first album, the even the Aaron Dessner

1:54

songs sound very Jack Antonoff. And

1:57

on the Aaron Dessner album, you have to really

1:59

check the credits. to see which ones are

2:01

Jack Antonoff because he's totally going into Aaron Dessner

2:03

mode. It's not like they sound all

2:05

that similar. Like you wouldn't have any trouble telling

2:07

which song goes on which half of the anthology.

2:09

Yeah. I wonder if they're actually,

2:11

if you look at it, they're more sonically distinct than

2:13

say Folklore and Evermore are from each other. I wonder

2:16

if there's that in the argument. Much more I think.

2:18

Yeah. Yeah. Midnight's

2:20

3AM was also very different sounding from Midnight's.

2:22

I just flat out like Midnight's 3AM a

2:24

lot better than Midnight's Proper. I love them

2:26

both. The song, the Aaron Dessner songs on

2:28

Midnight's 3AM are real Midnight's highlights to me.

2:30

I think it's clear from some of the

2:32

reaction out there that Talk to Poets department

2:35

as a whole is one of the more

2:37

challenging albums that Taylor has released in recent

2:39

memories. It does

2:41

pose some challenges for the listeners. It's

2:43

not as perhaps easily lovable in some

2:45

ways to some people as some of

2:47

our other albums and that is something

2:49

I think we should be looking for

2:51

from our artists. Artists don't need to

2:53

please us right away. I do think

2:55

that some of what makes the first

2:57

half challenging for some listeners is vastly

2:59

compounded by the second half which is

3:01

I think undeniably dominated by slow and

3:03

soft songs. It is

3:05

not a bop filled second half of the

3:07

album. It's a different thing. It's beautiful and

3:09

meditative and slow and very much driven

3:12

by the lyrics and I'm not sure

3:14

some non-fans have the patience for that

3:16

it seems like. Yeah. No,

3:19

I think that's very fair. I feel like I saw

3:21

a lot of tweets about people just being like it's

3:23

so wordy and being able to digest it. I

3:25

think especially adding 15 more songs, I

3:27

think people work. I feel like because it

3:29

is so challenging, there is so much he's

3:31

saying on this album. I think that's definitely

3:33

true for how a lot of people went

3:35

into it. It's Rob, the thing you talked

3:37

about in your review and talked about in

3:39

the first half of this podcast, how the

3:41

first half of the album does a lot

3:43

to take what could be quiet songs and

3:45

elevate them to arena or stadium level. The

3:48

second half doesn't do that as much. It's

3:50

definitely a more confined thing and definitely in

3:52

that almost explicitly a sequel to Folklore and

3:54

Evermore. It requires something of the listener and

3:56

I think it's awesome that she's at a

3:58

place in her career. where she can

4:00

do whatever she wanted. She can release something

4:02

that is not full of pop angers, at

4:05

least in one half. There's quite a few

4:07

on the first half. But there's certainly in

4:09

the density of lyrics, there's certainly a lot

4:11

to talk about. Are we still, are we

4:13

currently leaning towards, I am a first half

4:15

person at this point. I think we're the

4:17

two of you leaning. I'm first half, but

4:19

I, of course, me being me, I assembled

4:21

a perfect one hour album, which like mixed

4:23

them together. One thing I have with the

4:25

first half back when that was the album,

4:28

I said, I wish there were just a

4:30

few Aaron Dessner type tracks, you know,

4:32

to modulate the volume a little bit

4:34

and the tempo. There you go. And

4:36

my perfectly culled one hour long tortured

4:39

poets department might not be sufficiently tortured

4:41

or poetic, but I like just that

4:43

strengths on both albums are so intense

4:45

that I like having the essential personalities

4:47

of both of them. But let's talk

4:49

about the Black Dawns. I

4:59

would say this is the song that I've ended up going

5:02

back to the most from the anthology

5:04

version. I love the entire

5:06

concept of it so much. This is like

5:08

everything that I love, like how Taylor writes

5:10

breakup songs in particular, and scene setting type

5:12

of songs, like this great scene of stalking

5:14

your ex's location and that he still is

5:16

sharing with you. And then spiraling out when

5:19

you see him go to a pub

5:21

and thinking about everything that's happening at the pub. It's

5:23

just like my favorite kind of, of Taylor song. I

5:25

really love this one. And the way it builds up

5:27

at the end, like just the sort of like howling

5:29

vocals towards the end and the production on it, like

5:31

it's just like so excellent. I love this

5:33

one. This is absolute top tier for

5:35

me. I just love like Brittany said,

5:37

I love the whole narrative, the whole

5:40

sort of self parody that's built into

5:42

the narrative that she's stalking on her

5:44

phone and imagining this whole scenario, which

5:46

is just coming out of her feverish

5:48

imagination just from looking at a few

5:50

dots on the screen in her phone.

5:52

I just, that's such a wonderful character

5:54

presentation. There's an element of self-parroting, self

5:56

mockery as there is all throughout the

5:58

album, as there is. going through

6:00

these emotions in real life. One is often laughing

6:02

at oneself over what one is feeling. So the

6:05

fact that she's just looking at his location on

6:07

the phone and imagining this whole scenario where she's

6:09

totally defeated and humiliated, that's just, I just absolutely

6:11

love that. And that's where you can really hear

6:13

that she started out as a country songwriter before

6:16

she went into her own sort of her own

6:18

world. And then off track, it does feel sonically

6:20

in tune with the first half, obviously, which is

6:22

why she stuck it right adjacent to the first

6:25

half. And of course, the starting

6:27

line reference. Yeah, I think this is

6:29

why maybe I think I have been leaning

6:31

a lot more towards the second half of

6:33

the album the last like day. But also,

6:35

I feel like that first does lean more

6:37

towards the first half and now more towards

6:39

the back half. But yeah, I think I

6:41

like the muddle, the narrative of the of

6:43

these songs, where it's a little bit harder

6:45

to pinpoint some of the like the mystery of

6:48

some of these songs on there, especially the Black

6:50

Dog. But I was looking up the reviews for

6:52

the pub in London called The Black Dog, and

6:54

people angry at everyone. A lot of stay away

6:57

from here. I think this is like good news

6:59

for every pub on earth called The Black Dog,

7:01

though. The people that are happiest are Charlie Puth,

7:03

the starting line and The Black Dog. So

7:06

I'm gonna get you back. And

7:15

then another Antonoff song and another one that

7:18

kind of blurs the line between the sides.

7:20

As multiple people pointed out, it does there is

7:23

obviously a recent Olivia Rodrigo song that has a

7:25

similar theme. Kind of like this is very close

7:27

in terms of even like the way she puns

7:29

on the double meaning of get you back. So

7:31

it seems like that is so close. It's disorienting

7:33

in a way. Yeah, and those similar themes

7:35

of like, I am going to like smash your

7:37

bike and like, but also I'm in love with you.

7:39

That kind of part of it is very his

7:44

mom just to tell him just to tell

7:46

her that her son sucks. No lunch was

7:48

made on the phone. Yeah, I do like

7:50

Ammanast and Martin. They steer straight into the

7:52

ditch is nice. Also, that's very quintessentially Taylor

7:54

and that her boyfriends in these songs her

7:56

entire career, the boyfriends in the songs are

7:58

just terrible drivers. goes with her. I'm

8:00

sure this isn't the first time a car is banned in the

8:03

ditch in one of her songs. But yeah, I also like

8:05

I feel like some of the songs on the

8:07

album and especially the ones that I've gravitated to

8:09

the most have this like very like 90s

8:11

high school kind of like 90s like almost

8:14

like adult alt song type of like soundtrack of

8:16

a teen movie type of sound to them that

8:18

I really enjoy. And I think this one obviously

8:21

the most obvious one is so high school, but

8:23

I think this one kind of has that energy

8:25

on there. Adult alt. Who are

8:27

the key adult alt artists for you?

8:29

Just like the soundtrack to like 10 Things I

8:31

Hate About You movies like that, like obviously she

8:33

references American Pie and So High School like that

8:35

kind of sound like the songs that would be

8:38

on that those soundtracks. It feels very musically similar

8:40

and obviously in the theme to very much the

8:42

type of song that would be on one

8:44

of those movie soundtracks. I'm trying to specifically

8:46

remember the soundtrack of 10 Things I Hate

8:48

About You. It's a lot of connecture, but

8:50

I'll take your word for it. Letters to

8:52

Cleo singing like 70s Power Pop banger and

8:55

Heath Ledger singing Jamie's Got a Gun. Let's

8:57

face it that movie is so genius they

8:59

didn't even need a soundtrack. A perfect analogy

9:01

also that Shakespearean conceit of that movie is

9:03

Taylor is always super into Shakespearean themes in

9:05

her writing, but she really goes hard on

9:07

this album. Yeah. And so the Shakespeare sort

9:09

of scheme of 10 Things I Hate

9:11

About You is very palpable here. Yeah, very

9:13

Carnegie's S

9:16

sound a lot of the songs too. A little

9:18

like Sarah McLaughlin too maybe. Sarah McLaughlin working on

9:20

an album right now for next year. It's all

9:22

happening. There's a lot of dogs going without a

9:25

new theme song. Who Will Sing for the Sad

9:27

Dogs? Part two of Torch of Poets. Is There

9:29

a Sad Dog Anthem? Take a Sad Dog video

9:31

and put each of the songs over and see

9:33

which fits. I'll let you guys know. Please do.

9:36

Yes. And that takes us to the album. Another

9:46

one that we knew about and is technically a

9:48

bonus track if we're following the... if indeed that's

9:50

true. It's weird because there's four that were bonus

9:52

tracks and yes they're on the physical edition but

9:54

the way they're spaced on the second half doesn't

9:57

place them as bonus tracks. It places them as

9:59

part of this. second half. But they frame the

10:01

album that there's a couple of them up top and

10:03

then a couple of them at the bottom. So it

10:05

seems like those four songs are grouped on this

10:07

album. I could be just overthinking the

10:10

structure of it but it seems to me like

10:12

those four songs. Also just there's the similar structure

10:14

of the titles. These are four

10:16

very specific characters in these four songs

10:18

that I think are, they

10:21

all have a lot of different sides of Taylor in them.

10:23

Yes. And you know what? When I was in our

10:25

semi-ridiculous preview episode, in our anticipation

10:27

episode, I said that they sounded

10:30

like weird levels in some cult and I think

10:32

what I was actually thinking is they sound like

10:34

tarot cards. And that's actually, that is what they

10:36

sound. Wow. That is really what they sound like.

10:39

Yeah. Oh no, I've pulled up the albatross. Of

10:41

course, you know who's into tarot cards is their

10:43

friend Lana. I can personally attest that that could

10:45

be, who knows? But anyway. Did she give you

10:48

a reading, Brian? We somewhat hilariously tried to, tried

10:50

to get a reading but Lana hated the

10:52

reader and called her a bitch. Not to

10:54

her face, but on the record afterwards. So

10:57

that didn't work

11:00

out. How can you not love Lana?

11:03

Come on, that's great. Rolling Stone and

11:05

No For Record, that lady was, yeah.

11:07

The albatross to me just truly could

11:09

fit right onto folklore and Evermore at

11:11

least, at least sonically. Yeah. And just

11:13

one of the best songs really on

11:15

both halves of this album are the

11:17

ones that really fit into that folklore

11:20

ever more mode of songs about just

11:22

mad women, the way that she sums

11:24

it up on folklore. But there's a

11:26

lot of really outsider outcast female narrators

11:28

all over this album, especially the second half,

11:30

really also all through the first half. And

11:32

that to me is the most fascinating mode of

11:35

this album. The albatross is, I just think that's

11:37

a phenomenal Swift narrative. She's trying to imagine the

11:39

stupid way someone would perceive her after a breakup.

11:41

Is that the, is that like what's happening here?

11:44

Sex is way one would envision a woman after

11:46

one breaks up with them. Is that what's going

11:48

on here? What did sound like me? Yeah. I

11:50

actually can't think of any other. I said that

11:53

with a question mark, but I really was saying

11:55

with a period. I think that's what it's about.

11:57

Something that you said in her last episode talking.

12:00

about who's afraid of Little Omi and you call that

12:02

song the return of the monster on the hill. Right.

12:05

But that monster is really going wild all over

12:07

the second half of the anthology. The Albatross is

12:09

just a great example of that. It's very much

12:11

like who's afraid of Little Omi, the sort of

12:14

who's afraid of me, you should be, that kind

12:16

of thing. The Albatross is a really awesomely scary

12:18

kind of character study. I really love the way

12:20

she sings persona non grata on the bridge. So

12:23

then we have definitely a title that raised my

12:25

eyebrows when I first saw it before I heard

12:27

the song Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus.

12:30

You said some things that I can't afford.

12:33

You turned me into a idea of

12:35

a horse. You made it

12:38

seem like you... Right, song title it does sound like some

12:40

kind of 70s sex comedy. For sure.

12:42

Yeah, I mean some sort of 70s Swedish

12:45

art house comedy. A lot of really depressed

12:47

divorced sex in fondue in one movie. But

12:49

I love this one and it's also a

12:51

very sad sort of story. Yeah, the melody

12:54

on this one is really good. One of

12:56

the more wrenching songs on the album and

12:58

if you want to break my quote heart,

13:00

just say I love you the way that you

13:03

were is pretty hard. Yeah, the

13:05

addiction theme that comes up sometimes on

13:07

this album. And sometimes

13:09

it's presented really obliquely as in the

13:11

torture poet society where certain character

13:14

smokes and then eats seven bars of

13:17

chocolate and there's some sort of implication

13:19

there. But definitely like in

13:21

this song it's just very blunt and very affecting. Yeah.

13:24

I think a lot of these collection of songs

13:26

feels like they build upon the narrative begun and

13:28

smallest man who ever lived. I feel like so

13:31

much of that album is like the... As she

13:33

described it, the mania of falling in love and

13:35

kind of the whirlwind of that romance and

13:37

kind of the how insane they both felt

13:39

but then going into more of the darker

13:42

aspects of what the relationship looked like. Yeah,

13:44

and her psyche afterwards. Yeah, absolutely. I think

13:46

that's... This is the aftermath. Yeah,

13:48

I think that's so true and it gives

13:50

meaning to this structure of the album. You're

13:52

absolutely right. Scarlet Maroon callback is certainly again

13:54

eyebrow raising. That's intense and that's really sad

13:56

and makes me obviously connect those two songs

13:58

but I'll show you. Just thinking of

14:00

the way that song has such a

14:03

light-hearted, they're on the floor drinking the

14:05

roommate screw-top rosé and this is like

14:07

another timeline, another place that story could

14:09

have gone. What's up everyone?

14:11

It's Reality Steve, your number one

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listen. The Reality Steve podcast, part

14:34

of the Believe Network. Just search

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BLEAV on YouTube or wherever you

14:38

listen. You

14:40

also have to love the fact that The

14:42

Cold Heart is a Hank Williams reference and

14:44

also that a very big day

14:47

for this guy. He's inducted into rock and roll

14:49

fame and there's a lyrical nod to him. She

14:51

talks about crashing into you. This week for Dave

14:53

Matthews in a long time, in a boy's dream.

14:56

I think, yes, she is under the table and

14:58

dreaming. Can

15:01

I just say one more thing

15:03

about Chloe and Steven and Drew

15:05

and Phoebe and all the other characters

15:07

who show up all over her songs. But the song, it's

15:10

got a real, like a lot of these songs

15:12

on both halves of the album, it's got a

15:14

real mirror ball vibe and the whole thing of

15:16

all the different characters that she changed in just

15:18

to get, just to outrun my

15:20

desertion of you. What a great line that is.

15:23

I really enjoy all the sort of mirror ball

15:25

mutations on both halves of this album. That's

15:27

part of what makes the song really strong for

15:30

me. There's weird, the bit about the decade and

15:32

everything, that there's a whole decade. I don't know

15:34

if it's supposed to take place a decade in

15:36

the future or if it's related to the fact

15:38

that whoever she's singing about, it takes place now

15:40

in the person she's singing about that they had

15:42

a fling 10 years ago, which would match one

15:44

of the people in the scenario possibly. It's a

15:46

little confusing. Again, I think that's what you're talking

15:48

about, Brittany, is that it

15:50

gets a little harder to map it onto real life in the

15:52

second half? Is that kind of what you're talking about? Yeah. Yeah.

15:56

Do we know who any of these people in the title are? No, but

15:59

I know that the internet's super- superstar

16:01

lyric is seen as a reference to

16:03

Maddie's girlfriend who is like a very

16:05

internet famous model who is in Charlie

16:08

X's XCX's band that she had created.

16:10

What's weird because I was thinking about the

16:12

Hannahs and Sarahs too if that's anything and

16:14

whether that was anything specific. My

16:17

best guess is that it's a biblical reference

16:19

if anything or just names of people that

16:21

she finds annoying. Wow. But

16:23

there is a... I hadn't thought

16:25

of that. In their Old Testament

16:27

characters but in Christianity they're often

16:29

used to refer to quote unquote

16:31

barren women. So that could be

16:33

it or that could be just a... It could be just

16:35

she picked names of people that she thought could be annoying.

16:37

So yeah how did it end? No

16:40

more. Except all of

16:43

our friends we want

16:45

more. The horticultural

16:47

imagery is totally new for her and way

16:50

over my head and I'm looking forward to

16:52

learning more. No idea what I was a

16:54

hot house flower like to my outdoorsman. Hot

16:56

house flower being like just like a generally

16:59

people use it for someone who's very delicate.

17:01

It's interesting that she paints herself it's a

17:03

nice gender stereotype flip because he was like

17:05

this delicate little flower and she was literally

17:08

in this demand she was that she was

17:10

the outdoorsman she was a tough she was

17:12

a tough adventurous person the other person was

17:14

the total was. So that's the common metaphorical

17:17

use but then when you even think about

17:19

it and when you realize that it's about

17:21

this specific person it's even better taken not

17:23

even so metaphorically and more literally a hot

17:26

house flower as in someone something that thrives

17:28

and is grown indoors in a greenhouse versus

17:30

someone who likes going outdoors and it's really

17:32

literally about it goes back to that thing

17:34

I'm not going to be locked into my

17:36

house again for years. It's like

17:38

he was someone he liked to stay home.

17:41

It's both things he was delicate and sensitive

17:43

and liked to stay home and was shy

17:45

and she was a quote unquote outdoorsman she

17:47

wanted to adventure around the world and I think actually

17:49

it's a pretty explicit statement about that relationship. I think

17:51

it's unmistakable. I'm just thinking about it since I blew

17:54

right past that but that's what that is. Thank you.

17:56

No that's absolutely that makes sense.

17:59

I really. I think this song

18:01

I really love and also I don't know

18:03

if you guys have seen the one of

18:05

the many sort of week of release Easter

18:07

egg thing she was doing was having capitalizing

18:09

letters in certain songs to make a mess

18:11

It was we hereby conduct this postmortem, which

18:13

is the opening line of this which obviously

18:15

was not in the original album So people

18:17

were confused why that was the message chosen

18:19

But I do think this I think so

18:21

much of us a major kind of like

18:23

thesis and centerpiece to the album in terms

18:25

of a lot Of her biting back at

18:28

a public opinion stuff that likes people like

18:30

waiting to hear the breakup songs Like that's

18:32

such like a thing that happens online When

18:34

of any sort of star is known for

18:36

writing music about their love lives goes through

18:38

that and Taylor especially and being like everyone

18:41

Keeps asking how did it end? Yes, this one's

18:43

about Joe. I'm absolutely positive This is about Joe

18:45

and even just being like I still don't know

18:47

how did it end like that ending with that

18:49

is a pretty powerful ending to that an answer

18:51

to the question that everyone had and was thought

18:53

that they would get answered in a Concrete

18:56

way on it and you know what? Absolutely,

18:58

and then the imagery of people running into

19:00

her right after the breakup, which I'm sure

19:02

didn't happen because she was on tour I

19:04

don't think she was at the shops after

19:06

the breakup, but it's an imaginary scenario But

19:08

I think but it is it's yes all

19:10

about it's all about the big breakup not

19:12

the other not the short breakup So he

19:14

got another song another definite song as far

19:16

as I'm concerned And I like I can't

19:18

you know what I'd like I can't pretend

19:20

like I understand how did it end It's

19:22

funny because so many other times she's told

19:24

us how various things end right so explicitly

19:26

and in this one It's interesting. I think to

19:28

have that confusion even in her own head and

19:30

so high school Another

19:39

one where we I think we know who it's about different

19:41

guy I'd have to say I

19:44

can't get out of my head Brittany's brilliant comment that

19:46

this should have been the Travis song on the first

19:48

half Angry

19:51

about the alchemy is not guys when I leave

19:53

favorite song I think the entire album and I'm

19:56

like this is it this was a great I

19:58

think it's fun. It sounds great I think her

20:00

voice sounds great on it. It's just, it's

20:02

so catchy. Watching American Pie on a Saturday

20:04

night, so good. This is another one that has

20:06

a little bit of, and I guess you're talking about mirror ball.

20:09

This does have a little mazzy start in it, doesn't it?

20:11

Yeah. Definitely. Guitar, it's funny,

20:13

not the vocal at all, but the

20:15

guitar, usually the guitar is the, yeah,

20:17

no, it definitely has that sort of

20:19

90s cranberries and star in the guitar.

20:21

That VH1 circa 1996 sound, she

20:25

just can never get enough of. Adult

20:27

alt, as you put it. It's also

20:29

funny, like, it's funny that

20:31

she'll watch American Pie for this

20:33

guy. It's like, there's certain implications

20:36

in there. That's the choice of the

20:38

movie. American Pie, Grand Theft Auto. Some

20:40

people have questioned whether she truly knows

20:42

Aristotle. I'm more inclined to, if she

20:44

says she knows Aristotle, I believe she

20:46

knows Aristotle, but it could be just

20:49

a rhetorical stance to contrast against the

20:51

ball. I'm sure, compared to him, she

20:53

knows Aristotle. Yes, yes. The

20:55

honesty of it is fun. It's funny and affectionate and

20:58

real. I do like the line, I wanna find you

21:00

in a crowd just to hide from you, which is

21:02

such a good line. Yeah, there's great lines all through

21:04

this song. This song is, yeah, this is really

21:06

funny. It reminds me of very much like a

21:08

lover type song. Oh good, yeah, yeah. I

21:11

can totally see her choosing between this one

21:13

and Paper Rings and deciding to go with

21:15

Paper Rings. Okay, I hate it here. I

21:18

read about it in the book when

21:20

I was a pro-changer To try and

21:22

always head to you and fall

21:24

down here. It is a line that people

21:26

obsessed over and missed the whole rest of

21:28

the song. Missed the forest for the trees

21:31

a little bit. It is a strange line.

21:33

I do think the line reads differently in

21:36

the context of the whole song, especially in

21:38

the following lines. And I think it's one

21:40

of the dangers of screenshot criticism, which often

21:42

literally was screenshot criticism done. It does is

21:45

you pick off something out of context and

21:47

have the worst bad faith interpretation of it.

21:49

And in this case, they're actually, I find

21:51

it annoying when celebrities, for instance, say that

21:54

their quotes were taken out of context when

21:56

they weren't. But in this case, there actually is some

21:58

context in the next lines. which doesn't

22:00

necessarily excuse the lines, but it might. So the

22:02

line in question is, my friends used to play

22:04

a game where we'd pick a decade, we wish

22:06

we could live it instead of this. I'd say

22:08

the 1830s, but without all the racists and getting

22:10

married off to for the highest bid. Now that's

22:12

the part everyone was like, but that is a

22:14

really goofy sentiment. But they missed the next line,

22:16

which is everyone would look down because it wasn't

22:18

fun now. Seems like it was never even fun

22:20

back then. And she ruined the game. I don't

22:22

quite fully get it, but it's clear that the

22:24

next lines make it clear that she ruined the

22:26

game by saying that, I would say. I don't

22:28

know. What do you think? Yeah. Especially

22:31

with nostalgia as a mind trick. If I'd been there,

22:33

I'd hate it. Lines, like it makes more sense in

22:35

the context of the verse, which like you said, which

22:37

is an annoying thing, seeing people pick out

22:39

specific lines, like the Charlie Puth line. I'm like,

22:41

that makes sense in the context of the song.

22:43

And like the way that she's thinking about this,

22:45

like all those things that people were like picking

22:47

out very specific lines and like being like this

22:49

line set. It's like, you don't have the full

22:51

song in front of you. And you're not listening

22:53

to it in the context of it. But yeah,

22:56

it makes more sense in the context of the

22:58

verse. This is a, this is not like my

23:00

favorite song from the album. Just like forget and

23:02

skip it. Why was it the thirties in particular

23:04

anyway? That I've not figured out. I think she

23:06

just loves like really, she's always talking about like

23:08

living in like Victorian age type of stuff and

23:10

like picturing herself as like a holding like a

23:12

candelabra and like a dusty Victorian castle. I know

23:14

like those very sort of antiquated type of

23:16

places. So yeah, I don't know. I think

23:18

it just fits into her sort of obsession

23:21

with very old history. My dang, since she

23:23

sings about romanticism and to me the 1830s,

23:25

that's the decade when William Wordsworth really lost

23:27

it as a poet and started to suck.

23:30

To me, it's very tied in with the

23:32

story of Wordsworth and Coleridge, which she has

23:34

sung about before. We know that she really

23:36

cares about the history of Wordsworth and Coleridge.

23:39

We know from the lakes that this is

23:41

something she likes to sing about. And to

23:43

me, it's that kind of fascination with

23:45

this period of romantic poetry at the

23:47

time when the original romantic poets lost

23:49

it. Wordsworth's great poet up to 1830s

23:53

and really started to deteriorate in public

23:55

at that point. And so anyway, that's

23:57

where my mind goes when she's singing.

24:00

about the 1830s, but it fits in

24:02

with the theme of the song that so much of

24:04

the song is about romanticism gone sour and really

24:06

self-consciously and self-parotically flowery tone of

24:09

the later verses where she's singing

24:11

about the lunar valleys. That

24:13

to me is the theme of the song is

24:15

that sort of romanticism that's flailing to justify itself.

24:18

Yeah, it feels very related to the lakes in that way,

24:21

that kind of this idea of take me to I

24:23

don't belong in this era and take me

24:25

to this kind of non-social media moment in

24:27

time. It's pretty self-conscious. I'm

24:29

all my romanticism from my inner life and

24:32

I'll get lost on purpose. To me that's

24:34

what the song is about, being just disenchanted

24:36

with her adolescent ideal of romanticism

24:38

and the way it hasn't followed her into adulthood,

24:40

the way she hoped it would. She meaning the

24:43

narrator of the song. Also it's weird that the

24:45

1830s line that people hate so much, to me

24:47

that's not even close to being the worst line

24:49

in the song. I really hate is my comfort

24:51

is a construct, which I would nominate as

24:53

top 10 worst lines in the Taylor Swift

24:55

song. I would say it's up there

24:57

with the one from Paris that we were all talking

25:00

about for a few days and then forgot about. The

25:02

one about the kind of shade that comes from a

25:04

tree. I honestly never thought of Taylor Swift as kind

25:06

of songwriter who would use construct as a noun and

25:08

I'd certainly hope it never happens again. But I think

25:10

of that as by far the biggest clunker lyric. What

25:12

do we think the secret gardens in her mind that

25:14

she read about in a book? My

25:17

mind went almost certainly wrongly to the

25:19

idea of the mind palace that like

25:21

the Sherlock Holmes mind palace thing where

25:23

you build like a memory palace, the idea where

25:25

you build this like construct in your mind you

25:27

can visit Hannibal Lecter does it too. But I

25:29

was like that can't be what she's talking about.

25:31

I thought it was the book, The Secret Garden.

25:35

But the book isn't about she doesn't build that

25:37

she rebuilds a garden in real life, not in

25:39

her mind. So she's going to I was confused.

25:41

I didn't get that. I don't get it. I

25:44

also thought it was it connected for me to

25:46

cruel summer, like sneaking into the garden gate. I

25:48

love that. And I think like

25:51

especially the way that she sang about

25:53

love on that song and on lover

25:55

was like this idea of it being

25:57

like this like place that was protecting

25:59

her from. the things that were going wrong in

26:01

her world at the time and that being like

26:03

her escape from it. So I connected to that

26:05

more than anything. She'll let you in her heart

26:07

if the words you say are right but there's

26:09

a secret garden she hides is what she's trying

26:11

to say. She'll let you in her car to

26:13

go driving around, she'll let you into the parts

26:15

of herself that'll bring you down, she'll let you

26:17

in her heart if you gotta hammer an advice

26:19

but into the secret garden don't think twice is

26:21

what she said. Probably

26:24

not what she'd say. Or maybe

26:26

she is, maybe she is. Yeah I thought of

26:28

like the novel The Secret Garden and that sort

26:30

of romantic escape from day to day

26:33

life but I don't know. Brice Springsteen

26:35

definitely never saying if comfort is a

26:37

construct I don't believe in good luck.

26:39

Honestly that's a line where it seems

26:41

like almost none of the words match

26:43

up together. I'm probably just wrong but

26:45

yeah no. There we go. Yeah thank

26:48

you Amy. I can say all I

26:50

hear you is always love and still

26:52

dance with me. Speaking

26:54

of lack of subtlety, sometimes she wants us

26:56

to be able to decode it. She didn't

26:59

want to leave any doubt. Sometimes I guess

27:01

you get tired of playing games and you're

27:03

just like here it is. Don't misunderstand this.

27:05

Yeah I'm really glad because otherwise it would

27:08

have been very difficult to figure out what

27:10

song was about. Funny because she invented the

27:12

whole thing of capitalizing lyrics on the lyric

27:14

sheet but I think this is the first

27:17

time she's capitalized them in a title and

27:19

I'm guessing that it's not something she's going

27:21

to make a habit of. She hit some

27:23

greatest hits of targets on this. Yeah

27:26

there's a real while I'm here kind

27:28

of thing. And another thing yeah. Yeah

27:30

and one last thing. Yeah exactly. Yeah.

27:32

While I've got the sword out. I

27:36

will say the title it did give me

27:38

the ick a little bit because I do like the

27:40

song and I'm just like do we need I would

27:42

like it to be the mystery. I think that's what

27:44

I like to get a little bit of the other

27:47

breakup songs on this part but because I like the

27:49

song a lot. I like it as like this little

27:51

country again more of her testing out the twang before

27:53

recording debut Taylor's version. But yeah

27:55

I like the the twangy countryness of

27:57

the song. But I think the capitalization

28:00

I was like is the Amy

28:02

if you seek Amy reference would that

28:04

it work yeah would that it work

28:06

yeah no it's actually very similar to

28:08

what she does in mean which is

28:10

cast something that happens in her real

28:12

life in that like sort of high

28:14

school bully high school mean girl framework

28:17

very glad she didn't have Bob left

28:19

sets his name spelled out in capital

28:21

letters in that song I wonder if

28:23

at this point she can barely believe

28:25

that she wrote a song about Bob

28:27

left that's at this point it's clearly

28:29

if the lesson of that song was like

28:31

don't give your enemies to oxygen we're still

28:33

talking about Bob left that he will always

28:35

be famous because she wrote this song so

28:38

many of the bangers are coming up with

28:40

the move to the the bangers I look

28:42

in people's windows yeah

28:51

this is a I'm like keep Patrick Berger on

28:53

the line Taylor because I I love this I

28:56

love when they worked on slut I'm like keep

28:58

them on speed dial I would like to I

29:00

would like to hear some more Patrick Berger production

29:02

because I really the song is so good yeah

29:05

this one is I love this one this is

29:07

a highlight for yeah man he worked on dancing

29:09

on my own no lightweight yeah when he sent

29:11

a lot of stuff with Carly Rae I think

29:14

he worked a lot on Carly adjustments last album

29:16

too yeah big fan also for any fan of

29:18

the all too well short film and the way

29:20

it ends with the ex-boyfriend standing outside

29:22

the bookstore watching the book reading through

29:24

the window have to absolutely like a

29:27

plot I look in people's windows like I'm

29:29

some deranged weirdo I attend Christmas parties

29:31

from outside I look in people's windows

29:33

Taylor explained that the inspiration for that

29:35

scene at the end of the all too

29:37

well short film came from the movie

29:39

Stella Dallas which is a classic Barbara

29:41

Stanwyck movie from the 30s where

29:43

at the end she's she's estranged from her daughter

29:46

so she has to stand on the sidewalk watching

29:48

her daughter's wedding through the window and I just

29:50

I love how she found another place to

29:52

use that kind of in this song

29:54

I think this is a great song and it's

29:57

also it's really anomalous from the other songs on

29:59

this second half half of the album I really love.

30:01

This one seems almost like it would belong more on the first

30:03

half of the album but I just love it here. And

30:05

also the I really love the line I'm addicted to the

30:07

if only which like could have been an

30:09

alternate title for the album. Really good vocal

30:12

production on this song. I think that's fantastic.

30:14

Keep Patrick Berger on the line. Because the

30:16

way the harmonies and the background vocals are

30:18

arranged and even spread out in the stereo

30:20

spectrum is different than any other song on

30:23

the album. It's almost like you say it

30:25

would fit better in the on the first

30:27

half. It's almost like it's from some other

30:29

album altogether honestly. It feels totally anomalous to

30:32

me. Yeah it's called track 26 the

30:34

prophecy. This

30:44

is my favorite vocal as vocal on either half

30:46

of the album. Yeah. Her singing here I think

30:48

this is and it's weird that it's this aspect

30:51

of what she does that gets underrated the most

30:53

or at least overlooked the most. People ignore that

30:55

whatever else she is she's a singer and that's

30:57

very understandable because she's a million other things besides

31:00

that. But it's her vocals here are just intense

31:02

and phenomenal especially in the second half of the

31:04

song. This to me is like when a D

31:06

stand out some on the whole anthology the whole

31:09

album. Yeah I don't want money just

31:11

someone who walked my company is a crushing line.

31:13

I really the song is great. And the whole

31:15

way she's bouncing like a lesser woman would be

31:17

that I'm gonna take the high road here like

31:19

that and then she's and then the whole like

31:21

that whole rush toward the end where she's just

31:23

like taking but all the things the greater woman

31:25

would do but she doesn't want to be the

31:27

greater woman. She very much identifies with the lesser

31:29

woman and she's howling at the moon and calling

31:32

a coven at the sorceresses table which I totally

31:34

love. I just this whole part I just think

31:36

is just fantastic. The dramatic singing is what makes

31:38

it more than anything else. Yeah and I

31:40

think also the theme of kind of pain to

31:42

know what will happen fits very much into the

31:44

tarot. And the fool is a major harrow card

31:47

thing. That's really amazing I hadn't thought of that.

31:49

This whole tarot thing. This feels very psychic tarot

31:51

card type of I'm asking someone to tell me

31:53

it'll be okay. It feels very holy shit you

31:55

know what is it at the feet of the

31:58

fool in the card? A small white Yes.

32:01

Seriously? He's got a rucksack and

32:03

he's holding a white rose or some kind of rose

32:05

and he's got a white dog at his feet. So

32:07

there you go. And the symbolism is that it's

32:09

a nudge from the universe urging you to break

32:11

free from your comfortable habits and routines and

32:13

to try something spontaneous, carefree and even risky.

32:16

A question that we can ponder is why I

32:19

find astrology offensive but kind of like tarot cards.

32:21

That's a damn good question, Brian. You're the one who asked

32:24

it. Some of us prescribed to both. And in recon theory.

32:26

I admit there's a total contradiction there. But

32:29

yes. Anyway, there's so much blood on this

32:31

album. Do we discuss this? Poison blood? There's

32:33

like blood on every there's blood gushing in

32:35

the Amy song. This album is drenched in

32:37

blood. It's a gory album. I love it.

32:40

This song, this has reminds me of all those great moments in

32:42

Eris tour where she's getting really

32:44

witchy on stage. Yeah. Reminds

32:46

me of my tears ricochet, reminds me of Willow. And

32:49

there's a lot of that on the first half as well, particularly

32:51

in Who's Afraid of Little Me. But

32:53

I just love how this song she just

32:56

goes with that all the way through. And

32:58

just the fantastic line, even statues crumble if

33:00

they're made to wait. I just I completely

33:02

love that. It's faith neglected and unrewarded that

33:04

turns bitter and sour and crumbles. Statues

33:07

do crumble. All statues crumble. Ozamandias

33:09

has written that Percy Shelley, a real tortured

33:11

poet department chairman. Look on my works, you

33:13

mighty and despair. That's actually what Taylor said as

33:15

she dropped the 31st song. Absolutely.

33:19

And she wept because there were no more worlds. Nothing else

33:21

remains. Yes. I

33:23

compared this one to Yeats in my review

33:25

and I was like, God damn it, it's

33:27

a tortured poets department. I feel totally okay

33:29

making tortured poet references. But it reminds me

33:31

so much of Yeats in poems like

33:33

1919 and Easter 1916. I

33:36

just anyway, I just the Circles Animals desertion

33:38

is also in a lot here. But I

33:40

just I absolutely love the prophecy. To me,

33:43

that's one of the what rough beast slouches towards

33:45

my apartment to go on a date with me.

33:47

Yeah. I will say musically,

33:50

not at all, but lyrically, the despair on

33:52

it does remind me of the archer. It's

33:54

very much in there. Yeah. Very

33:56

similar to the archer and particularly

33:58

the live in Paris. Version of

34:00

The Archer. It's really where the Live in Paris

34:02

version of those Lever songs which otherwise we don't

34:04

have my versions of a lot of them. Death

34:07

as Death by Thousand Cuts. It's like that and

34:09

that pre Air Resources Petr own particular style for

34:11

doing the songs live That I guess we would

34:13

have seen it lever fast and and everything on

34:15

a different way. Yeah, it's very much like. It's

34:19

at. Twenty seven

34:21

Cassandra Speak a prophecy. Sleep.

34:29

In the seats and. Yeah.

34:32

I loved the song to I'd love it a

34:34

lot more if it didn't mention snakes. I do

34:36

love it. I would love it a little more

34:38

if it didn't mention snakes. Another, this the throwback

34:41

songs is the Kim song. This is what are

34:43

the ones that's a throwback to the Of is

34:45

what she sees as a pre reputation cancellation era.

34:47

maybe with a touch of this sort of them

34:50

actually controversy but given the snakes med sin that's

34:52

for this is about the yeah this feels Thank

34:54

you Amy Party of sees it as that, the

34:56

As or the Case. It's like say fled sex

34:59

with nothing like a payroll like very it's all

35:01

these feel. Days and nights at At yeah

35:03

it's weird. I think this makes turns in

35:05

that direction just with that one word. I

35:07

feel like without that word wouldn't be as

35:09

connected to that. And and bespoke it's really

35:11

strong songs. Apart from that aspect of it

35:14

in I really do think of to better

35:16

some with the Snake Yeah the whole like

35:18

great The first to first stone is thrown,

35:20

their screaming in the streets is raging right

35:22

when it's burned a bitch. the shrieking with

35:24

the truth comes out. It's quiet, a disparate

35:26

big that's a fantastic or see really seems

35:28

to fuel see feals still very scarred by

35:30

that period. obviously. despite. Everything that's happened since

35:33

then. It's interesting down the blood stick, but nothing

35:35

like the payroll. I wondered if for you were

35:37

there it He thought that this was maybe adding

35:39

up and really doing anything. with that I wondered

35:41

if it was about Katy Perry feels a bit

35:44

too melodramatic. Me about Katy Perry that that's it.

35:46

Yes, he and I says they've moved on so

35:48

much less a publicly of and the blood was

35:50

never that. Then I suggest sequencing. Third mean, it

35:53

wasn't the last. It was serb bad as bullet

35:55

holes. but it wasn't like you destroy the entire

35:57

way that I see the world. Be.

35:59

Noted. The United. It feels too melodramatic,

36:01

accusation. Yeah. Incorrectly if she

36:04

took the snakes out of the song and

36:06

put san is any now and in that

36:08

chorus instead of snakes and if wouldn't side

36:10

tracked the song, I feel like it's sidetrack

36:12

the song in a regrettable lakes. I think

36:15

it's a great song other way and Cassandra

36:17

just that. mythological characters that have perfect taylor

36:19

heroin. I just love. The

36:32

Sims. Guess I love the song when

36:34

I usually don't like Peter Pan imagery

36:36

and I honestly know almost nothing about

36:38

Peter Pan. accept a the Johnny Depp

36:40

movie and P E the reference in

36:42

Cardigan with Peter losing Wendy and so

36:44

for me it's almost more like cardigan

36:47

stance it then Peter Pan. but I

36:49

just I'd love to soften another fantastic

36:51

vocal. Yeah, this is. That the

36:53

card again Peter Losing Wendy. Yeah, Again, this

36:55

is the timing of this and everything when

36:57

is taking place and everything is confusing to

36:59

me. It may be this is not directly.

37:01

it's clear what it's about. It's about a

37:04

break up with some. I'm wondering when you

37:06

were young and claim some day they're they're

37:08

come back and then they never do. But

37:10

I'm not sure it may not fit into

37:12

any particular autobiographical framework exactly. did seem at

37:15

the prophecy a bit. Also, just the theme

37:17

of waiting serve waiting for something that doesn't

37:19

happen and just the weeding itself makes you

37:21

a bitter and mean I'm as he sang

37:23

in another song. Is a dream alive to

37:25

don't competitors? It's at the Emirates. Oh wait, those

37:28

out with I Target F establish an alibi knows

37:30

all about yes that if I were her I

37:32

would never use the word clauses disparate from the

37:34

most. Does it there Bryan, it's there He put

37:37

out where did I sit on one on problem

37:39

is it's just to keep it alive as a

37:41

few more tickets. So let's face it, he can't

37:43

neglect and closets did not have to be in

37:46

his songs. There's it's. know there's no listen to

37:48

anything else. It's not like in there's in the

37:50

house there's the closet. It's like must Beatles leader

37:52

in closets like seat or fact. it's. A

37:54

could be just as Peters in the

37:57

closets that he's in the closet that

37:59

are know cause it's there for hangers.

38:01

Winners You The door Another truly it

38:03

explicable Eric Axley else has So the

38:05

bolter track. Twenty nine. Second

38:16

half. A second

38:18

half of the second half of the album

38:21

is stacked. While to all really to some

38:23

really reminds me of the Hold Steady. A

38:25

lot of songs do a lot of that

38:27

storytelling with these misunderstood female outcast as the

38:29

heroes. But to me to bolster his point

38:32

of the most Hold Steady adjacent songs he's

38:34

ever written in the songs I'm still really

38:36

wrapping my head around the Sun is just

38:38

a lot going on in Historian and his

38:41

character. Great caress, Incredible. quiet. So good sir,

38:43

there's a lot. Of missing with the central

38:45

Park in the rowboats imagery that there's yeah,

38:47

I just makes it. Great chorus, great bridge,

38:49

great vocal air. Death Near really has an

38:52

air for her voice. He really knows how

38:54

to with her voice to cover production. Maybe

38:56

he went from better burger it for his

38:58

image. Just a good cinematic. It's it's dark,

39:00

it's a little hard to decode. and the

39:03

idea that this Louis it was so dark

39:05

that it feels exactly like a near death

39:07

experience. Pretty intense. And we also know she's

39:09

a keeper fan. And the whole thing of

39:11

of women who is escaped from drowning from.

39:14

Under Ice has such as Favorite

39:16

Keepers image track, Thirty Robin sadly

39:18

not with a wise but. I'm

39:28

gonna bring up the destroys if one of

39:30

my favorite Carly Simon deep cuts his friends

39:32

are often fond of Robin. With this and

39:34

of the first seventy soft rock songs about

39:37

having a crush on a gay did and

39:39

it's a real Carly Simon not suffer in

39:41

my opinion Carly Simon really knew that I

39:43

really knew how to to this seventy stories

39:45

on the song is it's very opaque in

39:47

very very much resists and easy interpretation and

39:49

I'm not getting the saw yet so far

39:51

their animals till on this album literally tigers

39:54

and bears is a mare and the pre

39:56

his son. Yeah like that, the expo

39:58

moments in the circus animals desert. In Which

40:00

a lot of animals on this album and

40:02

and a lot of them are tied into

40:04

showbiz animals. They're performing animals. They're in a

40:07

circus of some sort. This is where I

40:09

think part of it is a sequel to

40:11

Seven the Braves I think is the key

40:13

to decoding it. Debt is is where is

40:15

it's actually by. It's about a kid. whether

40:17

it's tower someone else apparently and as there's

40:20

child is named Robin A Higher and Higher

40:22

is like it is a picture to kid

40:24

on the swing and long may work your

40:26

dinosaurs. You're just ruler covered in mud. You

40:28

have ridiculous. The have no idea. And then

40:31

the bridge makes it clear. So yeah, maybe

40:33

it really is just about our and has

40:35

no kid part of his as as a

40:37

kid, the time or rival crew. on the

40:39

mean, you'll learn to bounce back to such

40:41

a trampoline. Strings tied to levers. Wait, is

40:43

that how Tripoli worth it is? And that's

40:45

strings tied to levers. Slow down, clocks, tethered

40:47

utter know. Sounds like maybe that's the Temple

40:49

in at an I I. I think that

40:51

this had sampling as a swing set. There's

40:53

a kid era has Vatican. Maybe it's about

40:55

young Our and it's about Robin and something

40:57

else and nuts. But as a kitten there

40:59

somewhere at. Sign of Resort. Definitely kid

41:01

how their kid is over that. I'm

41:03

going with sequel to Seven as Logo

41:05

as yeah I like that, a lighter

41:07

and the manuscript. just one more see.

41:10

A vintage dislike for like Them Kill

41:12

Bill. Just one more dislike. one more

41:14

stroke of the blade, the mixer. They're

41:16

dead. It's

41:25

only like a James Bond movie where it's

41:27

like all over and then in the last

41:29

thirty seconds that the deville in that you

41:31

saw it was absolutely dead comes crawling back

41:33

into the into frame and he got to

41:35

kill them as like it. It's. Good.

41:38

To manuscript I think is to the

41:40

nominal some stuff nominal character study yeah

41:43

I saw this on a summer's interpreted

41:45

as they have plenty of experience as

41:47

all too well ten minute recording and

41:49

revisiting. this experience linked directly that video

41:52

and writing these songs about releases of

41:54

she had with older men. when she

41:56

was nineteen twenty. But yeah, it seems like

41:58

so much as the last year. The her

42:00

obviously have been to Earth, we visit and

42:02

racing and. Go back into the archives. while the

42:04

songs that she wrote about relationships he had when she

42:06

was. A teenager and in her early twenties and

42:08

seen them reconnect with them for their big way

42:10

that Miss I Select also else Ten minute been

42:12

a number one hit. I think it's just like

42:14

that experience of having. To go back to the

42:17

songs that were so painful she didn't seem

42:19

Dear John live. For a really long

42:21

time. And as a big deal when she

42:23

did finally do that as a price on and

42:25

bring it back say i think that it's the

42:27

manuscript in question are these songs themselves and I

42:30

feel get a lot. The imagery reminds me a

42:32

lot physically of the all Too Well video which

42:34

was herb. Directing the relationship from

42:36

afar. And having to relive it is actually

42:38

about Jake and the but makes it clear his

42:41

than the actors were hitting their marks. This is

42:43

her filming the video for us who have pets

42:45

that that is. That's what happened. Honestly that as

42:47

with this is about the as and at last

42:49

he knew with the agony had been for as

42:51

you Like so mean a video that was us

42:54

and the final line but the story as it

42:56

might anymore. So this oh dear reader perfect caf

42:58

to that of the fact and just the much

43:00

he says during the arrest or as like the

43:02

songs belong to you now they don't they are

43:04

just mine. Been able to separate yourself from those

43:06

experiences. The i suddenly better that it wasn't about

43:09

down because it has too much nobody's tumors and

43:11

what is it so would have could have said

43:13

of right like the first verse but as I

43:15

thought well as mans captain and as ago it

43:18

has to be like maybe me scripts for videos

43:20

about these experiences but us census the seem of

43:22

looking at her life is the story and doing

43:24

back to these fares words he loves to use

43:27

of eastwards their pets from an older prospective in

43:29

wondering what was going on in that the whole

43:31

like the line about how he said she was

43:33

wise beyond her years everything has been above board

43:36

and now she's not here. And that's just

43:38

such a great line. It's it's It's

43:40

fantastically nuanced storytelling that is very much

43:42

in the motives of those earlier songs

43:44

that we're talking about. Definitely pretty would

43:46

you said about to wealth in minute

43:48

version. I think that's absolutely experience and

43:50

I think it's up. To

43:53

about one. Confirm. It's just treating

43:55

stories with friends and friends. Talking about these

43:57

things as responding to some story is that.

44:00

It's very much not a first person singular kind

44:02

of song, is deathly like nothing in it that

44:04

sort of hammers you in the head with take

44:06

that you're supposed to identify it with any particular

44:08

person or any particular couple. It's story that goes

44:10

a lot of places as sounded like you competitive

44:13

would have could have said if I was get

44:15

the three I would get the title that on

44:17

House at the Three and this in the wrong

44:19

order for to me this is like such a

44:21

superior version of that story. It's distilled in such

44:24

a more in insinuating and nuanced kind of way.

44:26

Yeah, it's really a thing sister, really powerful song,

44:28

and not even when he thinks he's. Done in

44:30

the past, it's the manuscript is going to

44:32

kind of sounds. I think it's been going

44:34

to keep going back to, but I'm already

44:37

disputed. Blown Away by that is so many

44:39

great songs or alerts on this album. I

44:41

think that it wasn't despite the huge role

44:43

our it's an album for people who really

44:45

care about her song writing, at her narratives.

44:47

And it isn't necessarily the most broadly appealing

44:49

pop album, but people are listening to it

44:51

as if it were was is causing some

44:54

interesting. It's some interesting cognitive dissonance there, but

44:56

as I think you're saying that people on

44:58

social media don't like it, I say. Who

45:00

have who? maybe don't know or work

45:02

very well and are very invested in

45:04

it or not. showing the patience for

45:06

and often meditative. thirty one track album

45:08

and adding also that is just a

45:10

matter of the way the site was

45:12

work is people are always eating to

45:14

call back last whether there is whether

45:17

it's real or not. So.

45:19

it's just the timing thing look how many people

45:21

hated i'm reputation and now pretend they never did

45:23

suplicy with the our reputation of this album is

45:25

and six months or in a year and yet

45:27

and also he said that as a lover talking

45:30

right now the arms only been out for a

45:32

couple days and a lot of people who are

45:34

publicly exhaustive it does records haven't had time to

45:36

listen to it which is very understandable is supposed

45:39

to like make two hours to do an hour

45:41

by an artist that they don't really care about

45:43

that it's it's to say that we're seeing a

45:45

lot of knee jerk reactions from people were still

45:47

a pre listening reaction and segregated interesting in a

45:50

different aiming men are more than ever people listen

45:52

to albums for artist they don't like and express

45:54

an opinion whereas in a twenty years ago you

45:56

would have had to buy said album seems to

45:59

there's a lot more people expressing opinions about things

46:01

that they knew they weren't gonna like before they

46:03

even started listening to it. It's just a different

46:05

thing anyway. Yeah. Not to compare the unexpectedly controversial

46:07

pop star of the year, but Drake, when he

46:10

released Scorpion. And it's something that people were just

46:12

upset that Scorpion was so long, even without having

46:14

listened to Scorpion. They were like, I can't believe

46:16

I have to listen to these 80 Drake songs

46:19

just to have an opinion about them. And it's something

46:21

that I really love Scorpion. Not a thing where I feel

46:23

obliged to listen to the songs that I don't care

46:25

so much. So I don't really care that it's such a

46:27

long album. I listen to the ones I like and

46:30

there's lots of songs on that. But it's

46:32

just funny that with the streaming era thing

46:34

of the long album, it's a different sort

46:36

of economy of listening. Robin Brittany, thank you

46:38

so much. Always a pleasure. And that's

46:40

our show. We'll be back next week.

46:43

In the meantime, subscribe to Rolling Stone

46:45

Music now wherever you get your podcasts.

46:47

And please leave us five stars and

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a nice review on Apple Podcasts and

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46:54

as always, thanks so much for listening. We

46:56

will. Welcome

47:09

to Talkville, the ultimate small little rewatch

47:12

podcast. Guest star Sarah Carter as Alicia

47:14

Baker. Although I didn't really work with

47:16

her a lot. But Tom did. And

47:18

they had some real big smoochie scenes.

47:20

Yeah. Should we talk about that? Could

47:22

there be any more sex? Well, it

47:25

was a three page make out scene

47:27

that just kept going. Good Lord. We

47:29

get it. They have chemistry. Jump in

47:31

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47:34

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or wherever you listen.